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GPWEEK.com //
PARTNERS:
One bike is enough for one
rider at one time. That much
is clear. Is one bike per rider
at a grand prix enough for the
world’s premier motorcycle
series?
Seems the rule-makers think
it is. Meetings at the weekend
edged closer to imposing the
rule, which already applies in
the smaller classes. And in
World Superbikes.
This will certainly help cut
costs for the smaller teams;
in other words the CRT teams,
in whose interests racing is
being cut back and remoulded.
Won’t make much difference to
the factories. They still get the
same number of engines, and
will doubtless build the same
number of bikes. The spare
bikes will simply be in the back
of the truck instead of the back
of the pit.
The effect on the racing?
It’s hard to see any
advantage. Easy to see the
opposite.
There is the problem of a
rider crashing in qualifying.
Let’s just say it is Rossi,
still the crowd favourite no
matter what the position.
If he should slip off early
in the session before
recording a time, he would
probably sacrifice any
grid position, though it’s
unthinkable he would actually
be excluded.
And the crowd would be
denied the chance to see him
in action.
They might not see that much
of him anyway, or his rivals,
if every time they calls in for
tyre or setting changes he has
to sit it out while mechanics
fiddle with the suspension, the
geometry, or whatever.
Then comes the race. It
won’t have any effect there
if somebody crashes. They’re
out anyway. But what if it rains
mid-race? Or dries up? The
current flag-to-flag bike-change
system works a treat: riders pit
and jump athletically onto their
spare bike, and go out again.
Can’t do that without a spare
bike.
The likely solution would
be fixed-time pit stops – say
two minutes, long enough
for wheels and brakes to be
changed, and suspension
settings softened. Which would
work, except for the temptation
to riders to risk staying out on
the wrong tyres to avoid the
considerable penalty.
Unless of course the pit stop
is compulsory.
The more you think about
it, the sillier it gets. The only
way it makes sense is as part
of the crescendo of new rules.
They’re designed to make
racing cheaper. And closer. And
every time a new rule comes
in another new rule is required
to make it work. And so on and
so on.
Never have the conflicting
demands of racing – business
versus sport – been so
dramatically opposed.
The federation is there to
take care of the sporting side,
but they have leased off their
authority to Dorna in exchange
for financial comfort. Dorna only
cares about business.
The sport continues to
suffer: the business isn’t doing
too well either. And the rules
continue to become more
numerous and less productive
as they move further towards
reduction ad absurdum.
Maybe the next thing will be
a no-bike rule. Then we can all
go home like Casey, and sit by
the river bank remembering the
good old days.
OPINION
MICHAEL
SCOTT
MotoGP
Editor
WHEN LESS REALLY IS ... LESS!
OPINION